2 Kings 24

IN his days i. e. In Iehoiakim's Reign, in the end of his third Year, Dan. 1. 1. or, the beginning of his Fourth, Ier. 25. 1. Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon The son of Nabopolassar, who quite subdued the Assyrian, first his Lord, and then his Competitor, and made himself Absolute Monarch of all those parts of the World. came up To wit, against Iehoiakim, as the Friend and Confederate of Pharaoh, whose Forces he had lately Conquered. Ier. 46. 2., and Jehoiakim became his servant three years: then he turned and rebelled against him By the instigation of the Egyptian, who threatned him if he did not Rebel, and promised him his utmost Assistance if he did..

And the LORD sent against him bands of the Caldees, and bands of the Syrians, and bands of the Moabites, and bands of the children of Ammon For Nebuchadnezzar's Army was made up of several Nations, who were willing to Fight under the Banner of such a Puissant and Victorious Emperor., and sent them against Judah to destroy it, according to the word of the LORD, which he spake by his servants the prophets.

Surely at the commandment of the LORD, came this upon Judah, to remove them out of his sight, for the sins of Manasseh Properly and directly for their own sins, and occasionally for the sins of Manasseh, which had never been charged upon them, if they had not made them their own by their impenitency for them, and repetition of them., according to all that he did.

And also for the innocent blood To wit, of those Prophets and Saints, who either reproved, or would not comply with his Idolatrous Worship. that he shed, (for he filled Jerusalem with innocent blood) which the LORD would not pardon.

¶ Now the rest of the acts of Jehoiakim, and all that he did, are they not written in the book of the chronicles of the kings of Judah?

So Jehoiakim slept with his fathers: and Jehoiachin Called also Iechoniah, 1 Chron. 3. 16. (as Iehojakim also was, by comparing this with Matt. 1. 11.) and in way of contempt, Choniah, Ier. 22. 24. his son reigned in his stead.

And the king of Egypt came not again any more out of his land To wit, in this Kings days; nor until Zedekiah's time, Ier. 37. 6, 7. nor to any purpose. He could not now come out to Protect the King of Iudah, being scarce able to defend his own Kingdom.: for the king of Babylon had taken from the river of Egypt unto the river Euphrates, all that pertained to the king of Egypt.

¶ Jehoiachin was eighteen years old when he began to reigh Object. He was then but Eight years old, 2 Chron. 36. 9. Answ. 1. Both are true; in his Eighth Year he began to Reign with his Father, who made him King with him, as divers other Kings of Israel and Iudah had done in the like times of trouble; and in his Eighteenth Year he Reigned alone. 2. He is called a son of eight years when he began to reign, 2 Chron. 36. 9. because this was the Eighth Year, not of his Age, but of the Babylonish Captivity, or Bondage; under which, both he, and his Father had been just so long; for it began in the Fourth Year of Iehojakim, as it is affirmed, Ier. 25. 1. and continued all his Reign, which lasted Eleven Years, Chap. 23. 36. and so the First Year of Iehojakim was precisely the Eighth Year of that Captivity. And this is certain, That the Years of Kings mentioned in Scripture, are not always accounted from the beginning of their Age, but from some other Remarkable Time, or thing: thus Saul, when at Man's Estate, is called, the son of one year, 1 Sam. 13. 1. of which see my notes there; and Ahaziah, (whose Father lived only Forty Years, 2 Chron. 21. 20.) is called a son of forty and two years when he began to reign, 2 Chron. 22. 2. because that was the Forty and second Year of the Reign of Omri's Family, as most think. And therefore it cannot seem strange, if the Years of this King be computed, not from liis Birth, but from the beginning of so great and famous a Change of the Iewish Affairs, as this Captivity made; this being the usual way of the Romans and Greeks, and other more Ancient and Eastern Nations, to compute the times from the great Changes and Revolutions hapning among them. And that this was the practise of the Iews in the Computation of these very times, is evident from the use of it in the Prophecy of Ezekiel, Chap. 1. 2. which was the fifth year of Iehojakim's captivity; and Chap. 33. 21. in the Twelfth year of our Captivity; and Chap. 40. 1. in the Twenty fifth year of our captivity. 3. To all this might be added, That some here acknowledge an Error of the Scribe, and affirm, That in the first and best Copies, in 2 Chron. 36. 9. it was not eight, but eighteen; which they gather from hence, because those two Ancient and Venerable Translators, the Syriack and Arabick, read there, as it is here, was eighteen years old which they say, they would never have presumed to do, if they had not so read it in those Hebrew Copies, out of which they drew their Translation; or in some of them., and he reigned in Jerusalem three months And ten days, which are added, 2 Chron. 36. 9. But such small sums are frequently omitted in great Numbers. See on Gen. 15. 13. 1 King. 16. 8.: and his mothers name was Nehushta, the daughter of Elnathan of Jerusalem.

And he did that which was evil in the sight of the LORD, according to all that his father had done.

¶ At that time the servants of Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon came up against Jerusalem, and the city was besieged. m Either, 1. Because the people had made Iehojachin King without his consent. Or, 2. Because he had some notice, or at least a suspition of his intentions to Rebel against him, and to joyn with Egypt against him, as Zedekiah his Successor did. But whatsoever was the Second and Immediate cause of it, the chief Cause was. God's commandment, or the direction of his Providence, as it was said ver. 3.

And Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon came against the city, and his servants did besiege it.

And Jehoiachin the king of Judah went out to the king of Babylon i. e. Yeilded up himself and the City into his hands; and this by the counsel of Ieremiah, and to his own good., he, and his mother, and his servants, and his princes, and his officers, and the king of Babylon took him in the eighth year of his reign i. e. Of Nebuchadnezzar's Reign; as appears by comparing this with Chap. 25. 8. and because Iehojachin Reigned not half a year..

And he carried out thence all the treasures of the house of the LORD, and the treasures of the kings house and cut in pieces all the vessels of gold i. e. The most and choicest of them, by comparing this with ch. 25. 14, 15. which Solomon king of Israel had made So he expresseth it, either First, Because these Vessels were made by the godly Kings of Iudah, instead of those which Solomon made, and so they go by his name; as the Ship of the Argona... ts was still reputed the same Ship, though it was from time to time recruited with new materials, until nothing of the old was left. Or, Secondly, Because though the City and Temple had been risted more than once both by the Kings of Egypt and Israel, and by the wicked Kings of Iudah yet these golden Vessels were preserved from them, either by the care of the Priests, who hid them out of the way; or by the clemency of the Conquerors, and the reverence which they bare to such sacred Instruments; or by the special providence of God, disposing their hearts to leave them. Or, if they had been taken away by any of these Kings, they might afterwards be recovered by the intreaty, or at the cost of the godly Kings of Iudah. in the temple of the LORD, as the LORD had said. p Or rather, took away, as this word elsewhere signifies; or cut off, to wit, from the Temple. For why should they cut in pieces those Vessels which might conveniently be carried away? And that they were not cut in pieces, but reserved whole, is manifest from Ezra 1. 7. and Dan. 5. 2, 3.

And he carried away all Jerusalem i. e. The Inhabitants of Ierusalem; not simply all, but the best and most considerable part, as the following words explain and restrain it., and all the princes, and all the mighty men of valour, even ten thousand Which are more particularly reckoned up, v. 16. where there are 7000 mighty men, and a thousand Smiths; and those mentioned v. 15. make up the other 2000.... Which might furnish them with new Arms, and thereby give him fresh trouble. captives, and all the crastsmen and smiths...: none remained save the poorest sort of the people of the land.

And he carried away Jehoiachin to Babylon, and the kings mother, and the kings wives, and his officers, and the mighty of the land, those carried he into captivity, from Jerusalem to Babylon.

And all the men of might, even seven thousand, and craftsmen, and smiths a thousand, all that were strong and apt for war, even them the king of Babylon brought captive to Babylon.

¶ And the king of Babylon made Mattaniah his fathers brother king in his stead, and changed his name to Zedekiah That he might admonish h... m of (what this Name signifies) the justice of God, which had so severely Punished Iehojakim for his Rebellion; and would no less certainly overtake him, if he should be guilty of the same Rebellion and Perfidiousness, of which his Predecessor was guilty..

Zedekiah was twenty and one years old when he began to reign, and he reigned eleven years in Jerusalem: and his mothers name was Hamutal, the daughter of Jeremiah of Libnah.

And he did that which was evil in the sight of the LORD, according to all that Jehoiakim had done.

For through the anger of the LORD it came to pass in Jerusalem and Judah, until he had cast them out from his presence, that Zedekiah rebelled against the king of Babylon Thus the Peoples Sins were the true Cause why God gave them wicked Kings, whom he suffered to do wickedly, that they might bring the long-deserved, and threatned Punishments upon Themselves and their People..